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VA testing drugs on mentally distressed veterans.

A Washington Times/ABC News investigation released today finds that “mentally distressed veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan are being recruited for government tests on pharmaceutical drugs linked to suicide and other violent side effects.” The Times reports:

In one such experiment involving the controversial anti-smoking drug Chantix, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) took three months to alert its patients about severe mental side effects. The warning did not arrive until after one of the veterans taking the drug had suffered a psychotic episode that ended in a near lethal confrontation with police.

“VA officials defend their use of veterans in medical studies, saying that helping [post-traumatic stress disorder] sufferers to stop smoking would prolong their lives,” the Times notes.